I thought we were just doing hand-to-hand combat!

Mark came over for his first martial art lesson at around 9:30PM. What a relief. I thought I was gonna have to drive to his neighborhood.

Mark: We're using weapons? I thought we were just doing hand-to-hand combat!

Mark revealed that he was interested in doing this because he saw 4 dudes beating up 1 dude when he was driving by Erica's neighborhood. So that was it. It sounded like someone called him out at first and he needed to learn how to fight. I think he said the 4 dudes were black and the 1 dude was white. I think it was 1 of either 2 things: the 4 black dudes were muggers or the 1 white dude called them all niggers. Oh well.

Mark can't get over the fact that I use eye-jabs and groin-shots. Hmm ... this might take some work. But he's got potential. I showed him all 12 angles of attack, taught him angles 1-5, taught him to counter angles 1 and 2, sinawali, and showed him empty hand sinawali. His notebook so far reads:

• Principles versus Techniques
• Vertical plain
• Balance and allignment
• Destroying the structure
• Sinawali

I let him borrow my book Filipino Martial Arts: Secrets of Cabales Serrada Eskrima. Wow, he seems really interested. Oh, and for some reason he and Erica aren't talking. But then she called him on his phone. Typical boyfriend-and-girlfriend stuff. Until next time.